Ellen Engstedt - January 15, 2007
Montana Wood Products Association
Climate Change
The Montana Legislature is off and running at high speed. A hot button issue with many bill draft requests is carbon sequestration. We in the timber community have been ahead of the pack for many years promoting active forest management with live, green, growing trees as the core to sequester carbon.
In order to maximize carbon sequestration and remove pollutants from the air we all breathe is to constantly continue the cycle of planting and harvesting. Trees are a tremendous renewable resource but must be healthy in order to provide what we humans need from them. Old growth trees are the least able to clean the air because they are at the end of their cycle of life. Young, vibrant growth is the second best and the very best is when trees are harvested and manufactured into a product because truly then the carbon is sequestered forever.
In addition to sequestering carbon, trees help cool the earth by giving off moisture. All living things require water in order to live and trees greatly help by acting like huge pumps to cycle water up from the soil and back into the air. Again, however, in order for trees to perform at their best they must be healthy and well spaced.
Thrown into the legislative mix along with carbon sequestration are global warming and climate change. It is very maddening to have people use those terms interchangeably because global warming and climate change are two very different concepts. I keep hearing some make the rash statement that the argument over global warming is over and that no sane person on the planet will attempt to dispute it. Well, I guess there are a few of us insane types left because some of us believe, yes, our climate is changing because the climate has always been changing but that does not translate into the fear mongering of global warming. It does mean we live in a dynamic world and change is occurring all of the time.
Politicos across the country have been for the past couple of years pushing the idea of global warming as a priority issue among voters. It is no accident that the headlines scream almost daily about how this bunch or that bunch of scientists has conjured up yet another study to support the theory of global warming. Well-known and respected real scientists are studying the aspects of climate change and some of the causes. Sadly, the shrill voices of the vocal minority are drowning out the sound of reason.
Nationwide last year nine million acres of land burned putting about 20 million tons of carbon into our air. Montana suffered the loss of almost one million of those acres burned so doing some simple math it appears we citizens were exposed to around two million tons of carbon dioxide. This is hardly the pristine air we have had here in our once beautiful State and yet the pollution had nothing to do with global warming and everything to do with the lack of sound forest management on mostly federal lands.
If we humans are going to be part of solutions that deal with the changing climate and polluted air, the regurgitation of half-truths needs to tone down. It will be very difficult to sit through a dozen legislative hearings listening to stories of climate change and carbon sequestration but with the caveat that cutting trees is not an option. More likely the arguments relating to carbon sequestration and numerous other issues appear to be to blame all of the ills of the world on the business community and beat the drum for punitive actions to be taken against the very folks who provide jobs and are responsible for our booming economy.
Be sure not to believe everything you read about actions being taken here in Montana’s Legislature and think carefully about who is pontificating in terms of climate change, global warming and carbon sequestration. And, remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there is nothing as lovely on the landscape as a healthy, green forest complete with some stumps.
On behalf of the Montana Wood Products Association based in Helena, I am Ellen Engstedt. Thanks for listening.
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